Setup

How to spell setup

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce setup

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does setup mean?

1. nounThe way something is arranged, organised, or configured.
2. nounA scheme or arrangement designed to deceive or trap someone.

Setup in a sentence

• The office setup made it easy for the team to collaborate.

• She realised the whole meeting had been a setup to make her look incompetent.

• He spent an hour adjusting the camera setup before the shoot.

• The detective suspected the robbery was a setup from the start.

Where does setup come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The noun setup is a relatively modern fusion of the ordinary verb phrase 'to set up', and both parts are solidly native English. 'Set' descends from Old English 'settan', meaning 'to cause to sit' or 'to put in place', which is itself related to the verb 'sit'. The adverb 'up' comes from Old English 'up' or 'uppe', describing motion to a higher or ready position. As a closed compound noun, setup emerged in the early twentieth century, first in American technical and mechanical usage to describe the way a machine or arrangement had been put together. From there it spread to mean any configuration or arrangement, and acquired a colloquial sense of a scheme designed to trap or deceive someone. The spelling trap is purely about whitespace: the noun is written solid (setup), while the action stays two words ('we will set up the tent').

How the word is built

• set (to place or arrange)
• up (adverb particle), fused into a single noun